1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to telephony and the control of calls connected over a communications network. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for controlling call handling in a communications network in a manner that allows a caller to complete a critical transaction, without interruption.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Call centers are useful and effective communication tools for many diverse industries. For example, airline and travel businesses use call centers for reservation services. Media, cable, and telephone companies use call centers for outbound promotional sales and inbound repair and other services. Other types of inbound and outbound call center capabilities are used by brokerage houses, banks, and financial institutions.
The key to managing a successful call center is maximizing available resources and agent productivity. An Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system ensures that incoming calls are distributed evenly, so agent productivity is maintained at a high level, and inbound callers are handled efficiently.
Utilizing an ACD system it is possible to handle a high volume of incoming calls more efficiently and effectively, improving overall productivity. An ACD system can also alleviate call bottlenecks, enabling an ACD operation to be streamlined, aid operations management, and enhance a company""s image by improving customer service.
An ACD system manages incoming calls by answering the calls on a xe2x80x9cfirst-come, first-servedxe2x80x9d basis. Agents answer then either on a xe2x80x9cmost-idle-firstxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cnext-available-firstxe2x80x9d basis. This ensures that calls are evenly distributed over an answering group while maximizing agent productivity. An ACD system also allows overflow calls to be automatically directed to another call answering group whenever necessary.
ACD systems are frequently coupled with Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems. The IVR systems prompt the caller to input (using a telephone keypad) information which is used to process the call.
For example, in a banking environment, an IVR may prompt the caller to input an account number. In a customer service environment, the IVR may offer a menu of frequently asked questions and answers.
State of the art IVR and ACD systems interact with the ACD controlling. That is, when the ACD determines that an agent is available, it pulls the call from the IVR and connects it with an agent. This can be disadvantageous if the IVR is in the process of completing a xe2x80x9ccritical transactionxe2x80x9d. A critical transaction may be defined in different ways by different system administrators. It is essentially a transaction which is preferably not interrupted by an ACD. For example, an input of account, number may be considered a critical transaction.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus in a communications network whereby critical transactions pending in an IVR will not be interrupted by an ACD.
It is also an object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus whereby an IVR may inform an ACD whether or not a transaction may be interrupted.
It is another object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus for determining whether an IVR transaction may be interrupted.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a messaging system whereby an IVR can communicate with an ACD regarding the nature of an IVR transaction.
It is another object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus whereby the ACD may grant permissions to the IVR regarding declaring a transaction to be uninterruptible.
It is still another object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus whereby an ACD can inform an IVR of a service request based on called number and/or calling number.
In accord with these objects which will be discussed in detail below, the methods and apparatus according to one aspect of the invention include a network feature which allows an IVR server connected to an ACD server (such as a PBX, or PINX) to gain control of an ACD call that has been routed by the ACD server to the IVR over, for example, ISDN facilities employing the ISO QSIG (signaling) protocol.
As used herein, for the sake of illustration only, an exemplary ACD server includes the following general functions: routing of an incoming call to the ACD system in the ACD server, queuing an ACD call to one or more ACD Groups when agents are not available, connecting an ACD call to an announcement or music source when agents are not available, and routing an ACD call to an IVR in order for the IVR to collect information from the caller and/or to retrieve information requested by the caller. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a fewer or greater number of functions may be accommodated by an ACD without limiting the scope or spirit of the invention.
Further, according to another aspect of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, the methods and apparatus contemplated herein provide the following new functions: signaling of initial call control information from the ACD server to the IVR, signaling of a request to change the status of the pull back status from the IVR to the ACD server, pulling back an ACD call from the IVR when a condition requiring pull back occurs, e.g., when an agent becomes available, allowing an ACD call to remain connected to the IVR when a condition otherwise suitable for pull back occurs. Again, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a fewer or greater number of new functions may be accommodated without limiting the scope or spirit of the invention.
According to an illustrative embodiment of the invention, the initial call control information includes one or more of the following: an indication of whether pull back is allowed or not allowed, an indication whether the IVR is allowed or not allowed to change pull back status, and a service number (or service request) for the IVR to apply to the call. The service number may be based, for example, on the called number and/or the calling number.
According to the methods of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, when a call is directed to the ACD system within a ACD server, the ACD system follows the configured step commands of the selected ACD Routing Table (ART) used to process the call. The ART selected is based on the called number and/or the calling number received by the ACD server, and may also be based an the time of day and the date.
Based on the configured step commands, the caller may be queued to one or more ACD Groups when agents are not available, and the caller may be routed to announcements or music sources while waiting for an available agent. Another configurable option is to route the caller to an IVR while maintaining the caller""s position in the ACD Group queues.
When a call is routed to an IVR, the IVR is informed if this particular connection is configured to be interruptible (pull back by the ACD system is allowed) or non-interruptible (pull back by the ACD system is not allowed) and whether or not the IVR is allowed to change the pull back status.
If pull back by the ACD system is allowed, and the IVR service requested by the caller is considered to be a critical service (one that should not be interrupted), the IVR (if allowed) will request the ACD system to not pull the call back. The ACD system will respond with a positive acknowledgment unless pull back has already been initiated and has been successfully completed. In the latter case, a negative acknowledgment is returned to the IVR.
Upon receiving a positive acknowledgment, the IVR can connect the caller to the critical transaction.
Upon completion of the critical transaction, the IVR can transfer the call, return the call to the ACD system for further processing, or it can indicate that the call can be disconnected.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a signaling protocol is provided for exchange of information between an ACD server and an IVR server.
According to a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, a Siemens Hicom 300 ACD may be utilized because it supports a proprietary signaling protocol (CorNet-N D-Channel protocol) between an ACD PINX and an IVR. With the signaling protocol primitives, formats and procedures described by the invention, an IVR is informed by the ACD server whether or not the ACD system can pull a call back from the IVR for immediate ACD system servicing, and whether or not the IVR is allowed to change the pull back status before initiating a critical (uninterruptible) transaction.
The IVR, if allowed, can request a change to the pull back status in order to give the customer an uninterrupted session with a critical transaction.
Similarly, if the IVR is not allowed to change the pull back status, a critical transaction should not be initiated by the IVR, or if initiated, the critical transaction should be preceded by a warning message that the transaction may be interrupted before it is completed.
The invention allows an ACD server and an IVR server to cooperate, by usage of a network signaling protocol, to provide the best possible service to an ACD caller.
The invention is applicable in a network having a plurality of interconnected servers/PINXs, and enables routing calls to an IVR server located anywhere in the network (i.e., public or private) and pulled back for other processing.
The principles of the present invention are applicable to a wide variety of different network implementations and may be implemented as a feature in any known communications server, including, but not limited to, voice services which may span public networks, private networks and interwork between public and private networks, including standard networks such as International Standards Organization (ISO), European Computer Manufacturers Association for Standardizing Information and Communication Services (ECMA), European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) Signaling (especially signaling at the xe2x80x9cQxe2x80x9d reference point (QSIG) compliant ISDN, computer supported telephony applications/computer telephony interface (CSTA/CTI) network via applications programming interfaces (API), signaling over Internet Protocol (IP), and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, etc.